She reached for her purse.
Aiden stared. “Where are you going?”
His stepmother looked over at him. “Well, the meeting was moved to another location. Mr. Yang insisted on having it at his house for tonight. I believe he bought some new exotic animals he wanted to show off. There’s also a young man he wanted to introduce to Zhu Zhu. The two can be friends.”
I cleaned the entire house for nothing?Aiden chewed his lip. “Why did I cook so much food if we’re not hosting?”
“Well, we obviously still need to bring food,” She grabbed a pair of white satin gloves. “You would’ve known about the change if you picked up your phone last night.”
Aiden did not miss the chilly glance thrown in his direction, but his eyes wandered to Zhu Zhu. She slouched over her iPad, tapping the screen three times, each heavier than the last, and her eyes twitched to catch his gaze before returning to her drawing. “How old is this young man?” Aiden asked. “Mr. Yang’s children are very young, so I know it’s not his kids.”
“Older,” Zhu Zhu immediately mumbled just loud enough for everyone to hear.
“I said they could be friends. She will need guidance once she goes to a university that’s appropriate for her, and he’s currently attending that university,” Yin Mei interjected. “Carry everything out to the car, won’t you?”
Aiden grabbed one of the wrapped dishes. His hands clenched. “Should we already be talking so far into the future regarding Zhu Zhu if we still have no hint on the location of the will? Assuming you’ve told me everything about it.”
Zhu Zhu slowly looked up from her iPad with wide eyes. Besides her, He Bao stopped his prancing and glared. His stepmother whirled toward him, but her gaze fell on the expensive porcelain in his hands.
Want me to throw it?To make the challenge clearer, he shifted it in his hands.
“Listen you,” He Bao snarled. “You’re asking a lot of questions for something that doesn’t concern you. This is between Ma, my sister, and me. Go put everything out in the car already! If we’re late, I’m going to tell the other families it’s because of you.”
Suppose I have time for more backtalk later,Aiden thought. He transferred the dishes one-by-one with no one’s help to the car.Besides, I need something else first.
He returned inside, lowering his eyes and softening his tone. “Some of my clothes are fraying. Can I borrow a needle to fix them?”
“You want a needle now?” His stepmother sighed. “Zhu Zhu, go grab him a needle.”
“I don’t know where it is. I don’t know where anything is. You’re the one who decided how everything goes in this house, including our own rooms,” Zhu Zhu replied, head lowered to the iPad again.
“Youlivein this house, don’t you? You should already know where everything is.”
“I’ll get him the needle,” He Bao interrupted.
He glared at Aiden when walking past. After stomping around the house, He Bao returned and shoved the needle into his hands, almost pricking Aiden’s finger along the way.
Still, Aiden kept his expression carefully submissive, nodding with his eyes flicked down.
“We must lock everything up.” His stepmother gestured to the basement.
Obediently, Aiden returned back down. He turned the light on, settling onto his bed. Yin Mei slammed the door shut. The lock clicked with a key. “Move, move. We can’t be late for tonight.” He listened to their steps fade. The house fell to silence.
He grinned at the needle in his hand.
“Wasn’t able to use it during the kidnapping, but I can definitely use it now,” Aiden relished aloud. He dug into one of the boxes that the family abandoned in the basement, digging out the clothes Zhu Zhu graciously saved for him that morning.
His heart thumped against his chest, pulling out the silvery sheen with a dragon roaring at the front. He smiled, pain pricking at his chest.
His brother’s last gift to him.
Somethingshemade for him.
Aiden donned the modernized hanfu. The silk wrapped around his shoulders in the perfect shape and perfect height. He overlapped the collar, and both sides fell into place, hugging his chest at the right proportions. He fastened the strings around the end of his sleeves, and the scales of the dragon glimmered against the dim light. He tightened the sash around his waist, and the pants flowed just above the floor while the waistline snugged around his skin.
He allowed himself to think of her. Just briefly. Wondering how she predicted this. Wondering how she could’ve made this when he was still young.
His breath shortened in an instant, and the swaying dim light reminded him of the car lights pulling around the window. His brother’s shadow turned around the corner for the restroom. His pouts and fitful cries at the game, and her laughter transformed before him—from glittering of joy to the horror of realization.
